The Office of The Ombudsman has marked a historic year of achievement, with its newly released annual report revealing unprecedented success in mediating public complaints and driving administrative improvements across government departments.
During the 2024/25 period, the office successfully mediated 555 cases - a figure that nearly triples last year's performance and sets a new institutional record, representing 33.5 percent of all handled cases.
These mediated disputes were resolved with remarkable efficiency, averaging just 10.87 days per case, it said.
On the front of fostering interdepartmental collaboration, the watchdog said it completed three direct investigation operations and processed 141 complaint cases during the year in this connection.
Meanwhile, the watchdog said its comprehensive work program included eight full-scale direct investigations and 40 full investigations, through which it issued 254 concrete recommendations for enhancing public administration - a 37 percent increase over the previous year's output.
Notably, every single recommendation gained acceptance from the relevant government departments and public institutions, it said.
A newly implemented practice of issuing formal observations for inquiry-resolved cases has proven particularly effective since its November 2024 introduction.
By the end of March 2025, the office had produced 106 such observations, all of which were accepted by the concerned public bodies.
This innovative approach has added a new dimension to the Ombudsman's toolkit for improving governance standards, it noted.
Separately, the annual statistics reveal a substantial caseload management achievement, with 4,402 new complaints received across various public service areas during the reporting period.
When combined with cases carried over from previous years, the office successfully processed 4,664 matters to completion. This included 3,009 cases concluded after preliminary assessment and 1,655 matters that underwent full investigation before resolution.
